Ready Set Go – Part I – A Painful Freedom

So, I was listening to the Song below, and it made me think of Isaiah 6 where Isaiah is asked who God should send. He replies, I will go. I feel like this song captures this pretty well. However, as I reread Isaiah 6 for this blog, I couldn’t get past the beginning. So, I guess I have to turn this into a couple blogs so that each section can be unpacked.

Isaiah 6 is about the prophet’s commission. It is a beautiful picture that has inspired me for many years. This is a scripture that was spoken over me in my teen years. I can’t say that has happened a lot so I really took it to heart. So, before I get into the song, I would like to talk about this passage, because I think they are connected.

Here is how the Lord works. He doesn’t just send letters, texts, or emails to his people. He doesn’t just want us to obey, but rather he wants us to see, to experience what he is doing. He could have just told Isaiah, “hey man, so I’m going to send you to some places and you’re going to do X, Y, and Z. Ok? Cool thanks”. This is how most of us communicate to each other. Have you ever had a boss come into the office like this? You leave thinking, “Why is this important. Is this a menial task or is it for me specifically?” This is not what God does. God pulls Isaiah into a vision of his kingdom. He shows himself seated in his glory, in all of his splendorous raiment. It shows his angels worshiping him (Isaiah 6:1-3).  There is a lot of meaning in the seraphim covering their eyes and feet, but that’s for a different story. So, God wants to share something with Isaiah and what does he do? He shows his power, his glory. He gives Isaiah something to remember. Look upon the splendor my son and know that the Lord of heaven speaks to you. Something like that. The first thing you’re thinking at this point is, “I’m going to memorize everything that happens right now”. I know I’ve gone on a bit about 3 sentences, but it just astounds me that the God just loves to blow people away. He is well within his authority to just give an order, but instead he shares his presence with us. Awesome. Ok next.

Next, something happens. Isaiah realizes where he is and what that means. “At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:4). This is like being at rock concert, only you realize the power is coming from the beings and not the sound system. This would literally blow you away if you witnessed it. Isaiah suddenly realizes that he is way out of his league here. He notices his iniquity standing in stark contrast of the present company. He cries out to the lord to express this. His statement is one of awe and fear. I am a sinner. I am unclean. If I look upon the perfection of the Lord I will surely be destroyed (Isaiah 6:5). So, Step 1 – awe and wonder. Step 2 – Realization and fear. Many people don’t like the idea that God could inspire fear, but I think we need to see the truth and not the soft shroud we want. We must understand that sin is against all that the Lord is. So, standing in his presence, having sin within us, should cause us to fear. A part of us stands against a being of awesome power. It’s scary man. Even a fool would be scared. We don’t have to be incapacitated by it. We can know that he means us no harm, but we should understand the fullness of his power.

Lastly, Isaiah’s concerns are addressed. Once again, God amazes me with how he deals with us. I go back to the analogy of a boss. If your boss called you into the office to give you a task, would he/she makes sure that all your concerns were dealt with before giving you the task? Not usually. More often than not you will be given your task and dismissed. If your boss is especially attentive, you may get to ask some questions after. Interesting how often God’s ways are different then how things happen here. Maybe we should do something about that…?? Anyway, the Lord realizes that Isaiah can’t continue until he is made clean. The angel grabs a coal and touches it to his lips, and he is clean (Isaiah 6:6). This is pretty cool all by itself. This is where most people leave it, but this is where the point of this blog comes from. This is where some of the readers stop liking me a little bit. I feel like having a coal touched to your lips would hurt. But, what does that mean? Here it comes…

Being freed from the grasp of sin is painful. There I said it. There is some doctrine going around the church that says that God took all sin from us on the day he died on the cross. That’s it. All done, no more sin. But then, why do Christians still live in it. I was serious about my commitment to Christ, but I still fall into sin’s grasp. I struggled with smoking, porn, and lust. The Lord slowly freed me from those things as I followed him. Each time it was hard. Each time it was painful. He now pulls me through things many refuse to see. Things like food addiction. We don’t realize how many voids we fill with food. It is hard. My stomach hurts right now. But, that’s not right, is it? If I am free from sin, then why does it hold me still? Why do I have to battle out of it? The truth?

The way I see it, Jesus came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17-20). The law says that the punishment for sin is death. So, that is what we have paid, over and over again. But, Jesus did not sin. Yet he was killed for sin. He paid a price that wasn’t owed. The law was violated here. Satan, who wanted Jesus dead, did not hold up his side of the bargain. He killed an innocent man. Adam gave Satan the power over death when he sinned. Satan gave it to Jesus when he killed him for someone else’s crime. So, now Jesus is the only one to hold power over death. The only way Satan can have any control is if we give it to him. When we follow his plan, through addiction, or crime, or lust, etc. we give him control. Jesus made a way for us to escape that control. It is death people. I know no one likes the word death, but it is a beautiful thing here. The truth is, Jesus uses death to free us from our “legal obligation” to sin. When we “Die to ourselves” we put to death the part of us that deserves to die. Jesus then gives us a new life, a new spirit. (Romans 6). Read it people. It’s all right there. Don’t like that? Try (Romans8). Specifically verse 34, “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” It says Jesus is interceding for us. It doesn’t say that he already did it, it says that he is doing it. Every time we come to him with a sin and he works with us to be free of it, he takes it to the father and intercedes for us. Each and every time.

So, what’s the point? The point is, we must die to ourselves. This is painful. We must take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). Umm, crosses are not fun. End of story. We must do this daily. We must deny our flesh and follow him.

I bring this up because I want us to never stop looking into ourselves to see what blocks us from him. You want to know why you can’t hear from him when other’s say they can. Have you ever had a fellow Christian say, “The lord told me…”? What does that mean? Is that like a metaphor? NO! It’s not. It’s exactly what it sounds like. When you eliminate the things in your life that distract, block, and fill voids that are meant for him, then you will hear. The easy ones are obvious. Alcoholism, drugs, porn, lust, anger, hate, etc. Many people never even deal with these kind of things. They just mask it. Those few of you who have fought through these things, have you considered; food, TV, busywork, cleaning, success, achievement? Think about what you do when you’re stressed. I realized the other day that I was upset because I was late for a meeting and felt stupid. When I was done, the first thing I thought was, “I’m going to get a burger on the way home”. It came to me in that moment (like the lord was talking ;) ) that I was making myself feel better with food, bad food. I filled a void. So, instead I prayed and spoke with him. I skipped the burger and gave my feelings to him. Slowly, I am giving all things to him. It’s hard and painful, but I feel closer to him already.

So, as usual, I spent a bunch of time on the first 6 verses in Isaiah 6, but I don’t regret because we can’t move forward until we deal with this. So, come with me my friends. This is the Spear’s motto. To pursue God radically. This is where it starts.

No more lines. Just the very breath of God.